2017-2018 College Football Bowl Projections

Below are listed our most updated projections for the college football bowl games. This year, there are a total of 40 bowl games and teams must have a record of 6-6 or better to be eligible for a bowl game. If there are not enough teams that are eligible to qualify, teams that are 5-7 will be eligible based on which teams have the highest APR.

It is important to note that these are forward looking projections of the current season. This means that the bowl projections are different than if the season ended today. We look ahead and project match ups in the future to help determine who is most likely to lock in the different bowl slots.

Below are a list of teams that are not projected to hit the minimum of six wins to become automatically eligible for a bowl game.

Note #1: ** means that the team has not ended their season and could still reach 6-6

Bowl Eligibility by APR

Team

APR

Wins

Losses

Minnesota

992

5

7

Vanderbilt

992

5

7

Indiana

982

5

7

Georgia Tech

983

5

6

California

978

5

7

Colorado

968

5

7

Tulane

967

5

7

UNLV

943

5

7

As it stands, the bowls will not have to dip into the pool of five win teams this year.

Note #2: BOLD denotes that the team has accepted a bid to the bowl.

Originally published on 8/2/2017.

This blog is projecting where each team will end up in a bowl. Once bowl bids are announced, you can find our score projections for the bowl games at our game projections page.

College Football Bowl Projections

Date

Bowl

Location

Team 1

Team 2

12/16/2017

Camelia

Montgomery, AL

C Michigan

Georgia St

12/16/2017

Cure

Orlando, FL

SMU

New Mexico St

12/16/2017

Las Vegas

Las Vegas, NV

Boise St

Oregon

12/16/2017

New Mexico

Albuquerque, NM

UT San Antonio

Fresno St

12/16/2017

New Orleans

New Orleans, LA

Troy

Marshall

12/19/2017

Boca Raton

Boca Raton, FL

Temple

FL Atlantic

12/20/2017

Frisco

Frisco, TX

Houston

UCLA*

12/21/2017

Potato

Boise, ID

N Illinois

San Diego St

12/21/2017

Gasparilla

St. Petersburg, FL

South Florida

Florida Intl

12/22/2017

Bahamas

Nassau, BS

UAB

Ohio

12/23/2017

Dollar General

Mobile, AL

Toledo

Appalachian St

12/23/2017

Armed Forces

Fort Worth, TX

Army

Akron*

12/23/2017

Birmingham

Birmingham, AL

Memphis

WKU*

12/24/2017

Hawaii

Honolulu, HI

Louisiana Tech*

Colorado St

12/26/2017

Quick Lane

Detroit, MI

Duke

MTSU*

12/26/2017

Heart of Dallas

Dallas, TX

North Texas

Texas Tech

12/26/2017

Military

Annapolis, MD

Virginia

Navy

12/26/2017

Cactus

Tempe, AZ

Kansas St

Arizona St

12/27/2017

Independence

Shreveport, LA

Florida St

Southern Miss

12/27/2017

Holiday

San Diego, CA

Northwestern

Washington St

12/27/2017

Pinstripe

New York, NY

Boston College

Iowa

12/27/2017

Texas

Houston, TX

West Virginia

Utah*

12/27/2017

Foster Farms

Santa Clara, CA

Michigan

Stanford

12/28/2017

Camping World

Orlando, FL

Virginia Tech

Iowa St

12/28/2017

Alamo

San Antonio, TX

Oklahoma St

Washington

12/29/2017

Belk

Charlotte, NC

Wake Forest

Texas A&M

12/29/2017

Sun

El Paso, NM

NC State

Arizona

12/29/2017

Music City

Nashville, TN

Purdue

Kentucky

12/30/2017

Arizona

Tucson, AZ

Arkansas St

Wyoming

12/30/2017

Liberty

Memphis, TN

Texas

Missouri

12/30/2017

TaxSlayer

Jacksonville, FL

Louisville

Mississippi St

1/1/2018

Citrus

Orlando, FL

Notre Dame

South Carolina

1/1/2018

Outback

Tampa, FL

Michigan St

LSU

New Year’s Bowl Projections

Date

Bowl

Location

Team 1

Team 2

12/29/2017

Cotton

Arlington, TX

Penn St

TCU

12/30/2017

Orange

Miami, FL

Miami FL

Wisconsin

12/30/2017

Fiesta

Glendale, AZ

USC

Ohio St

1/1/2018

Peach

Atlanta, GA

UCF

Auburn

The top-rated non Power-5 team is guaranteed a spot in one of the New Year’s big bowls. That recipient will be the UCF Knights.

National Championship Playoff Bowl Projections

Date

Bowl

Location

Team 1

Team 2

1/1/2018

Rose

Pasadena, CA

Oklahoma

Georgia

1/1/2018

Sugar

New Orleans, LA

Clemson

Alabama

The CFP Selection Committee selects the top four teams to play for the National Championship. This year, the play-in games are the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl. Our projections have the committee putting Clemson at 1, Oklahoma at 2, Georgia at 3 and Alabama at 4.

National Championship Bowl Projections

Date

Bowl

Location

Team 1

Team 2

1/8/2018

Championship

Atlanta, GA

Clemson

Oklahoma

Our rating system projects that Clemson would be favored against Alabama and Oklahoma would be favored over Georgia, thus pitting Clemson vs. Oklahoma in the National Championship.